The man who gave St. Peter's Church its face. During his long abbacy (1753-1785), Beda Seeauer oversaw a comprehensive rococo redecoration of the church: the ornate stucco work, the gilded altars, and the decorative scheme that gives St. Peter's its present warm, intimate character. Visitors walking into the church today are walking into Seeauer's vision.
He presided over the abbey during the same decades that Michael Haydn served as court musician and the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composing sacred music for the Cathedral and court. As one of the most cultured Benedictine abbots of his era, Seeauer was a significant background figure in Mozart's Salzburg world.
